Emil, 4 months

Creepy Baby*

At four months, Emil has surprised us all by learning how to walk! His activity of choice is to climb upon the kitchen counter and gaze out into our back yard. Hours of fun.

Hi!

Okay, okay. So he can’t walk yet. But he is a rolling-over machine! It is pretty much impossible to keep him on his back. Put on back, roll over. Cry. Put on back again. Roll over. Cry. Repeat. Now THAT is fun for everyone!

Enjoying his new play mat courtesy of Aunt Kristin. Thank you!

But really. The crying is being reduced to a minimum, replaced mainly by long babbling ramblings about his two favorite subjects: milky and grabbing stuff. And when he does cry, all it really takes to make him happy is for Andrew to start playing piano or guitar. Instant happiness.

Emil is happier and happier to be on his own, requiring less carrying than usual. Which has been nice considering the amount of craziness we have endured over the past few weeks. Yes, the real reason I have not posted in almost a month is because we have been insanely busy with the holidays. Along with the rest of the world. But I have taken a bazillion pictures and will try to post the highlights over the next few days. But for now… Emil.

I am so in love with this baby it’s unreal. It is truly amazing how one’s heart really does grow to accommodate each new babe in the family. Ask me to pick one of my kids to save if I could only save one and I couldn’t do it. I guess I would die trying to save all three.

Emil is different from Oliver. Different from Milo. Once you think you have one infant figured out, the next one sends shock waves through your system. The truth is, the babe is really running the show each time. This one will fall asleep in his carseat just anticipating a car nap where Milo SCREAMED bloody murder just anticipating being put into a car (and didn’t stop screaming until you took him out of said car). But he sure was cute. And fat.

Milo at 4 months

Then, Milo was the easiest kid to potty train and was mostly out of diapers before he was 22 months old! Then Oliver comes along and BAM! You think you know how to do this? At 27 months, Oliver is back in diapers and completely against the potty. Oh, well. He is also the sweetest darn thing you have ever encountered and smart as a whip to boot. Different kid. Different story. Keeping me on my toes, dancing around all these crying babies and pants-poopers.

Oliver at 4 months

So, yeah. They are as different as can be. And still brothers. With that comes something so utterly amazing. I witness a tenderness Milo and Oliver have with Emil that shocks me. They are certainly not always that way with each other, but when I catch a moment, it is jarring.

Like this moment. Milo had just awakened from a nap and had come downstairs to find Emil in the doorway jumper, fussing a bit as I prepared dinner. Milo, groggy from his nap, went right over to his brother, bent down, and caressed his cheek.

And there was love.

In four months, he has made his way into all of our hearts. We love you, Emil.

*”Creepy Baby” is a game invented by Billy and Annie which involves an adult sneaking up on another adult with an infant (preferably one old enough to hold its head up, but not old enough to crawl or walk on its own), hiding so the targeted adult cannot see the offending adult, and placing the infant in an upright position so it appears the infant has walked or climbed into position on its own. The result is quite startling, as you might imagine. Thus, “Creepy Baby.” I highly recommend Creepy-Baby-ing someone if you have an infant at hand.